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NBA stars have had some incredible nicknames throughout the years. Names like “King James,” “The Greek Freak,” “The Round Mound of Rebound,”Shaq,” and even “The Beard,” there are some notable nicknames that you will immediately recognize. But as it turns out, none of these nicknames are as incredible as the nicknames NBA stars receive from Chinese fans on the internet.
Nick Kapur, who is a historian of Japan and East Asia, blessed Twitter with an incredible thread this week that unveiled some of the nicknames the Chinese basketball fans have been using for their favorite players.
Some are hilarious, others are flat-out rude, and then there are a handful of NSFW ones.
“China is crazy for the NBA, but official sources use boring phonetic transcriptions, failing to take advantage of Chinese characters having both sound and meaning,” Kapur wrote on Twitter. “Chinese netizens have ‘improved’ on these official names.”
Let’s take a look at some of the best.
LeBron James
Lebron James – 小皇帝 “The Little Emperor”
A play on the English “King James” that is also a slang term for a “spoiled only child” under China’s “One Child Policy”
Used more when Lebron was young but now mostly by Lebron haters. His fans prefer 詹皇 (Zhan Wang or “King James”).
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Stephen Curry — yikes!
Steph Curry – 库昊 “fucks the sky”
This is an extremely elaborate pun. One of Curry’s phonetic names is 库里 (ku li) and the second character is a combination of the characters 日 (“sun”) and 土 (“ground”). But 日 is also slang for “fuck.” 1/3— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Given Curry’s penchant for launching shots into the sky, Chinese netizens apparently felt it would be more apropos to name him “fucks the sky” instead of “fucks the ground,” so they replaced “earth” (土) with “sky” (天) in the second character. 2/3
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Other common nicknames for Steph Curry include “Sprout God” (萌神) and “The Elementary School Student” (小学生), both playing on his diminutive stature. 3/3
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis Antetokounmpo – 字母哥 "Letters Bro"
Because his last name has…so…many…letters!
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley – 飞猪 "The Flying Pig"
Self-explanatory.
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Manu Ginobili
Manu Ginobili – 妖刀 "The Demon Blade"
Perhaps the coolest nickname of them all, Ginobili earned this moniker for his ability to slash to the hoop using tricky footwork like the Eurostep.
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant – 蜗壳 "Snail Shell"
Kobe is "Snail Shell" because it rhymes with "My [guy] Kobe."
When he was young they called him 小飞侠 or “Peter Pan” (literally "Little Flying Warrior") and at the end he became 唠嗑 (“Chatterbox, Gossip"), which rhymes with "Old Kobe."
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordon – 帮主 "Gang Boss"
Jordan's ordinary name in Chinese is 乔丹 (qiao dan), but Qiao is also the surname of Qiao Feng, the leader of the "Beggars' Sect" in popular wuxia martial arts novels, often known simply as "Gang Boss Qiao" (乔帮主).
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Scottie Pippen
Scottie Pippen – 天下第二人 "Second Best Under Heaven"
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille O'Neal – 大鲨鱼 "The Giant Shark"
Derives from the fact that the first sound in the Chinese word for "shark" (shayu) sounds like the first sound in "Shaquille."
Toward the end of his career, he was frequently called "O'Fat" (奥胖) – a play on "O'Neal."
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Andre Miller
Andre Miller – 莫文蔚 "Karen Mok"
Because people think he looks like Hong Kong actress and pop star Karen Mok pic.twitter.com/6Uh2IcCgOT
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant – 书包杜 "Schoolbag Du"
Because he used to often wear a backpack to press conferences ("Du" is short for "Durant")
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis – 浓眉 "The Thick Brow"
No surprises here.
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
Charlie Villanueva
Charlie Villanueva – 無眉大俠 "The No-Eyebrow Knight"
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
James Harden
James Harden – 景德镇镇长 "The Mayor of Jingdezhen"
Jingdezhen is a town famous for making fragile porcelain, so "Son of Jingdezhen" (景德镇之子) is a term for an NBA flop artist. Harden is perceived to be the best at this "art," so he gets to be the "mayor" of Floptown.
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) May 7, 2018
